About us

The Scottish Association for Marine Science is amongst the oldest marine science organisations in the world: it was established in 1884 by Sir John Murray, editor of the Challenger Expedition Reports. SAMS is a 'learned society' with a membership of around 300 that runs a vibrant research laboratory called the Scottish Marine Institute near Oban. The organisational mission is to deliver world-class marine science that supports society in developing a sustainable relationship with the marine environment through research, education, services to business, learned society and public engagement initiatives.

SAMS employs over 160 staff that conduct both fundamental and applied research into most aspects of marine science, including physical, chemical and biological oceanography, marine ecology, marine technology and marine policy and addresses research themes such as marine renewables; people and the sea; dynamic oceans and Arctic seas.

A commercial subsidiary, SAMS Research Services Limited, offers SAMS expertise and facilities to customers from the private sector: see www.samsrsl.co.uk for details

As a founding partner of the University of the Highlands and Islands, SAMS runs a full-time four-year BSc (Hons) Marine Science programme - with an Arctic Science strand - and trains 25-30 postgraduate research students. SAMS also runs a MRes in Ecosystem-Based Management of Marine Systems jointly with the University of St Andrews and offers a programme of short training courses for professionals. Visiting groups can use SAMS' modern and well equipped facilities as a field station or to host meetings and conferences.

SAMS plays an important role in regional development. The Scottish Marine Institute includes an incubator space for marine life science companies: the European Centre for Marine Biotechnology. The local enterprise company is currently developing the European Marine Science Park on our doorstep as graduation space for companies outgrowing the incubator space.

• www.sams.ac.uk for more details about our work
• Follow us on Twitter to keep up-to-date with our activities http://twitter.com/ScotMarineInst